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... not read the delivery app more carefully. I attempted to restock on my favourite jellyfish snack which I buy in these 150 gram bags, So, I happily ordered four bags. 30 minutes later I received 600 grams in one pot. They weren't selling it bagged for rehydration! I'll never get through this lot before it goes off.

Chickpea Salad with Chicken and Tomatoes - chickpeas are mixed with diced, seared chicken breast and cherry tomatoes. Vinaigrette is made by mixing olive oil, lemon juice, jalapeno, parsley, onions, and cream cheese.

Another stop for tacos on the road, this time chorizo tacos with a zingy green salsa from a taco truck. Much more manageably filled this time . . . What looks like a Foley bag (medical folks will know) is actually a plastic bag full of passion fruit juice, with a straw tied in for drinking. Disappeared quickly on a warm day.

TJ's Steamed Pork Shu Mai With a nod to Sunset Magazine I grab these dumplings a few times a year, and tonight, as I was prepping to steam them, I remembered a recipe from Sunset Magazine that was published in the 1970s: Pepper‑Steamed Chicken With Roasted Onion Sauce. This evening, I riffed on that recipe and steamed the dumplings with an infusion of green onions, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. When cooked, I drizzled just a little of the "sauce" over the dumplings. Ended up with a kitchen filled with pleasant aromas and a very tasty, nicely flavored and nuanced, bowl of dumplings.

For many years I have made my beer money by writing and translating for one of China's top wine trade publications. The editor-in-chief is an old friend. This is one such article of mine which appeared bi-lingually in their flagship magazine, several years ago. I have spared you the Chinese version. What makes a wine memorable? What makes a wine stick in your memory in a way that you can recall every nuance of its bouquet, colour and taste even decades after you have drunk it? The depth and quality of an expensive fine wine? Perhaps. Or maybe a perfect match with a perfect dish in a perfect meal in a perfect restaurant? Yes, it could be that, too. Or sometimes, it is the company or social circumstances that you find yourself drinking in that remains with you. I suppose one should remember the Champagne at one’s wedding, but in fact, few people do. I can’t even remember what we drank. Although, I’m sure it wasn’t tea. Thinking about this recently, I racked my brains trying to think of examples of wines which remain with me, not necessarily for their great quality. It doesn’t have to be a wine which has had the critics in ecstasies, although those, too, can be memorable, of course. But, perhaps surprisingly, I decided that the wine I remember most vividly is a simple cheap wine which I drank from a plastic cup n the middle of a rather smelly fishing port dock area. I was sitting on an abandoned and broken chair which threatened to collapse at any minute. The food, eaten from a paper plate, certainly didn’t match the wine even remotely and the whiff of rotten fish and gasoline hardly contributed to the experience. But it remains one of my happiest wine drinking memories. About 25 years ago, I went on a family holiday to a tiny resort village on the French Mediterranean, near to Perpignan on the border with Spain. This is Languedoc-Roussillon territory, home to Vin de Pays d'Oc and the world’s largest wine producing area, responsible for more than one third of all France’s wine. No one will pretend that the wine is in the top grades, but it produces some perfectly acceptable everyday drinking wines. So armed with my high factor sunscreen, I settled down to a lazy couple of weeks by the Mediterranean. Parts of my body which hadn’t seen sunlight for years (i.e. most parts) were exposed to the elements and I spent the first few days doing nothing very much at all. But all that lying around doing nothing quickly became boring, so we took to strolling into the nearby village, visiting the market and generally being tourists. We stocked up on beautiful breads, local cheeses and grabbed flagons of what appeared to be the very local vin ordinaire wines. The locals would look at the cheeses we had selected and make their wine recommendations, which we were happy to go along with. They were dirt cheap, but a fine accompaniment to our simple lunch. The afternoons were happily spent sleeping off their effects. We got in a bit of cultural tourism by fitting in a couple of day trips into the mountains and to the beautiful city of Perpignan where we temporarily abandoned France and, bizarrely, had a lovely meal in an Indian restaurant which had been recently opened by someone from London! I’d be astonished if it were still there. We visited the ancient historic walled city of Carcassonne, where we had a more sensible traditional meal of the local specialty, cassoulet, a slow cooked dish of preserved goose, local sausages and beans. This was again washed down with a local wine, but sadly I can’t tell you what it was. I doubt it had a name, as such. It was served from a jar and everyone in the restaurant had the same wine. It was the kind of place which doesn’t do a menu. There is one dish and one wine. And both were delicious. Towards the end of the first week, while wandering near our holiday apartment, we turned left instead of right and found ourselves in a less picturesque area. This was clearly where the locals really worked when not looking out for the tourists. There were car repair places, decorating material shops, carpenters, metalworkers, stone masons, builders etc. And coming from the centre of it was the most wonderful smell. Garlic, wine and herbs and the unmistakeable smell of fresh seafood. It was a little early for lunch and far too late for breakfast, but we forced ourselves into this tiny shack and asked for the menu. When we did, the woman serving us pointed to the wall where it said a) 20 Francs Déjeuner; b) 25 Francs Déjeuner; c) 30 Francs Déjeuner. We were greedy people, so we went for the 30 Francs lunch for two. (The kids were playing on the beach.) Huge shivering plates of seafood arrived. Lobster, crabs, mussels, oysters, clams, prawns and much more. Again, this was served with anonymous local wine which matched the food perfectly. We went back every day for the rest of our holiday. On the last week, we discovered from the woman in the restaurant shack her restaurant would be closed that Friday for Feast of the Assumption, the Catholic Christian festival and that this was to be celebrated in the traditional manner. Further questioning revealed that this consisted of the local fishermen supplying the entire village’s lunch. We were assured that we would be very welcome and she kindly pointed out the location. The empty loading yard on the dock beside the main fish market. So, on the Friday, we rolled up at noon to find the place packed. The fishermen and their families had set up long barbecue grills along one side of the square where they were grilling sardines so fresh they had realised they were dead yet. There were tables piled high with crusty French baguettes, then more tables piled with fresh peaches. Then, barrels and barrels of wine. The locals were picking up paper plates, loading them with smoking hot sardines, grabbing some bread, a plastic cup of wine and finding anywhere they could to sit and enjoy this simplest of lunches. Then they would go back for more. And I did too. The wine was a red Pays d'Oc and probably not the best match for grilled sardines or for peaches. But I sat on my broken chair, looking out over the Mediterranean lying behind the boat sheds, feeling exquisitely happy and very, very full, but ready for just one more cupful. What's your most memorable wine experience?

Chicken thighs are out of the blast chiller and into the Profile. The plan is to smoke with cherry, 93C for 6 hours. Two thighs were rubbed with Penzeys Jerk and another two with Penzeys Singapore seasoning. Sadly I've forgotten which was which.

Cats are people too.

I wouldn't.

After visiting the black Madonna of Rocamadour … … we were on our way back to the hotel when we passed what looked like a makeshift parking lot with a huge sign saying „woodfire-grilled meats“. Of course we stopped, got a table and ordered. They recommended two menus for the three of us, and they were righ about the portion sizest. Wine, wster & bread arrived … DWs choice: salad with country paté, semidried duck and cured duck ham … And for me salad with roasted bread and house-made foie gras mi-cuit - it was fantastic. Mains were grilled trout with bacon stuffing for DW … … while little one and me demolished the grilled lamb. So juicy 🤗 Dessers were a lavender infused pannacotta … And the local specialty: warm nut cake (very moist) with vanilla sauce. Very full we drove home and enjoyed the sunset from the hotels porch while sipping some whiskey I just happen to have in the car 🤭

When dry brining chicken, does one first apply a marinade (or fish sauce)?

@JoNorvelleWalker MC is the Cat : I Vac and Save. pretty much. new freezer is , 2/3 or so += full but its Frost Free !

The spareribs were another disaster. They looked delicious after three hours. After the allotted six hours the meat was dry and crunchy. Not quite as bad as the last try, but not pleasant. Most likely the remains will flavor beans. The potato salad I served with them was excellent. So far hamburger and chicken pops are perfect. Pork belly is close. Beef ribs are good but need more work (additional test material awaits in the refrigerator). Smoked bluefish was OK but I overdid it on the brine. Meanwhile a package of chicken thighs is in the blast chiller. I wanted skin-on thighs but Whole Foods sent skinless. The thighs will get a few hours being blast chilled but not overnight. I put them on a rack (a CSO rack actually) in an hotel pan on the higher shelf of the blast chiller, directly under the powerful fan. @rotuts if I may ask, I infer you and MC are but two people. What do you do with the large quantities of meat you cook?

We were in a few different clubs/mailers - but down to a single one at this point. Although when tariffs kick in, maybe we should be buying more wine from California (with the only problem being I tend to enjoy old-world wines more).

Thanks, been on their mailer for yrs

Some high-end grape juice there, @Paul Bacino !

With SummerSlam

Just to be slightly pedantic, the wine pictured is from Abruzzo, made from the Montepulciano grape. In Montepulciano, you were probably drinking wines made with a high proportion of the Sangiovese grape.

Salt or pepper never appears on Chinese tables, at home or in restaurants, irrespective of pandemics. I always carry these little sachets. OK it isn't freshly ground pepper but in an emergency...

you can get heat deflectors for not much money on eBay that fit these mini kamados, one of those with a foil tray with some water would make a great indirect setup. but really it's just delaying the inevitable, I'd probably save the cost of the deflector and get a full sized one!

Upton Tea ships tea in resealable light/air/moisture-proof ziplocks, and a small quantity can be purchased for travelling purposes. Also these tea bags (with stick) are perfect!

Very good 😄

This reminds me...during the pandemic, when some restaurants first opened and partitioned off tables, sanitized everything, etc., one of the things was they put no salt/pepper or menus on the tables (you had to look online). So, my sister bought me the tiniest s/p grinders ever to carry in my purse. I did and I kept them in a ziplock bag, but somehow, pepper ended up getting out and into my purse. To this day, I will pull something out of my bag and it smells like pepper. Cracks me up!

Ha, yes

I think not. Where I live they might miss out the salt but the chilli? Never.

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